Freedom girls bounce PM East from Districts

SWIFTWATER — With their backs against the wall, Pocono Mountain East's girls basketball team did everything to keep its season alive. The hole the Cardinals had dug was just too deep.

JOE MIEGOC

SWIFTWATER — With their backs against the wall, Pocono Mountain East's girls basketball team did everything to keep its season alive. The hole the Cardinals had dug was just too deep.

The eighth-seeded Cardinals pulled to within one with under three minutes to go, but No. 9 Freedom scored the game's final three points to hold on for a 25-21 victory in the first round of the District 11 Class AAAA playoffs Wednesday.

The Patriots (12-11) play top-seeded East Stroudsburg South, the Mountain Valley Conference champion, in the quarterfinals at Pleasant Valley High School at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

It didn't have to be that way.

Pocono East (12-10) never got on track until the fourth quarter. The Cardinals shot just 3-for-29 from the floor in the opening three quarters and had more turnovers (21) than points (12).

That all changed in the fourth quarter when the Cardinals scored the first nine points, capped by Catie Cardiello's backdoor layup off a perfect pass from Megan Campbell. That cut Freedom's lead to 22-21 with 2:41 to play.

"It's the story of us," Pocono East coach Rose Haller said. "They come out and all of a sudden for some reason they decide to play. And when we play we're not a bad team at all. It's just a shame we didn't come out and play the whole game with that intensity. I think then we could have won and won handidly."

That's because Freedom did nothing to distinguish itself.

The Patriots were just 2-for-27 from the field in the opening half, but led 14-11 thanks to 15 Pocono East turnovers and a 10-for-14 performance at the line.

"We just don't paly together," Haller said. "There are a lot of lessons to be learned for the kids that are going to remain for next year. There are a lot of lessons that have been learned the hard way and sometimes that's the best way to learn."